Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Earworms as an excuse to talk about mental simulations and working memory
This week I’d like to talk about an intriguing phenomenon: earworms, those bits of songs that start playing in your head for hours and sometimes even days on end. More specifically, I’d like to talk about a comment that biologist John Medina makes about earworms in an entry entitled “As the Worm Turns” in his substack “John Medina’s Brain Rules”. I call it a comment because, as Medina admits right off, no one really knows much about what causes earworms. But the two neurological considerations that he raises are still interesting. They relate to two key concepts that I of course discuss on my website: mental simulation and working memory. (more…)
Memory and the Brain | Comments Closed
Tuesday, 30 April 2024
The so-called second brain in your intestines
After I deliver lectures about the human brain, one question that people often ask me is, “Is there really a ‘second brain’ in my belly, and if so, how is that possible?” I have to tell them that for someone like me, who many years ago did his master’s research on an invertebrate—more specifically, on a marine mollusk called the sea slug—there’s nothing surprising about finding neurons in parts of the body besides the brain. Because, like my sea slug, the phylogenetically oldest animals on Earth began by having clusters of neurons (what are often called ganglia) in many different parts of their bodies. For example, the sea slug has ganglia in its mouth, feet, and brain (where the ganglia are no bigger than anywhere else) as well as in its abdomen . It was only later in evolution, and especially in vertebrates, that increasing cephalization occurred: a concentration of neurons in the rostral portion of the neural tube (in other words, in the head). But that doesn’t mean that the other neurons, such as those in the abdomen, disappeared! (more…)
From the Simple to the Complex | Comments Closed
Thursday, 4 April 2024
The Brain Is Not a Space Shuttle
Recently, someone made me aware of an impressive graphic that attempts to use current neuroanatomical data to show how the brain’s circuits are interconnected, somewhat like the graphics that biochemists use to represent cellular metabolism.
I have never before seen any schematic representation of the brain’s circuits that pulls together so much information, both in its detailed version and in its simplified version, which shows the brain’s main circuits in the sagittal plane. The box in the lower left-hand corner of this graphic states that the research required to develop it was done by an aerospace engineer who had worked on the design of the space shuttle’s guidance system and who spent over four years analyzing over 1000 neuroscientific studies to prep this schematic. (more…)
From the Simple to the Complex | Comments Closed
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
How “awe” contributes to our well-being
In November 2023, many music fans in Quebec and elsewhere were saddened to hear that Karl Tremblay, lead singer of the folk-rock group Cowboys Fringants, had died of prostate cancer at age 47. Many of his fans remembered the moments of magic that they had experienced at the group’s concerts—the feelings of true oneness that only music can provide. People often have similar, fleeting experiences of wonder when out in nature—for example, beholding a beautiful sunset, or a sky full of stars or the view from the top of a mountain—or with the help of magic mushrooms or other psychedelic substances. The term “awe” is often used quite aptly to refer to these experiences when we feel part of something greater than ourselves, with a mixture of admiration and amazement, along with some fear, reverence and respect. (more…)
The Emergence of Consciousness | Comments Closed
Monday, 19 February 2024
Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will
This week I’d like to tell you about one of my “travelling companions” who has had a huge influence on me for as long as I’ve been writing popular science. His name is Robert Sapolsky, he’s a neurobiologist and primatologist, and I’ve posted about him before here and here. He has just published a new book, Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will , following his earlier, sensational book Behave, published in 2017. (more…)
From Thought to Language | Comments Closed
